Caspar Hauser

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1938 Book. Very Good +. Hardcover. First British Edition. 8vo. xxx, 580 pp, Introduction to the English Edition of "Caspar Hauser," 27 chapters. First British Edition, 1938. "Kaspar Hauser (1812-1833) was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Hauser's claims, and his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate and controversy. Perhaps the most influential fictional treatment of Kasper Hauser is Wassermann's 1908 novel Caspar Hauser oder Die Trägheit des Herzens (Caspar Hauser or the Inertia of the Heart), which was largely responsible for its popularization in Germany. The story is so interesting and so well told that it's hard to believe this novel has been out of print in English for decades. But Wassermann was one of a generation of German-Jewish novelists who sat uncomfortably between two traditions. Although heavily influenced by Freud and the psychological approach to the novel, they wrote novels of a style and structure rooted in the 19th century, full of details and detours, where the pace is measured and deliberate. For the patient reader the reward is a rich reading experience, sensitive in its depiction of both the emotional and social worlds of the novel's characters." Faded cloth spine with age-toned free endpapers and lightly age-toned text block edges, else, Pristine Interior. Clean, tight and strong binding with no underlining, highlighting or marginalia. Black cloth with gilt lettering to spine..